Vehicle suspensions in general have a shock absorber which is surrounded by a coil spring. Such vehicle shock absorbing legs are disclosed, for example, in the book "How Does It Work?--The Car" from the Bibliographisches Institut, Mannheim, 1968, pages 166-167. At the lower end, this combination is attached to the wheel suspension, while its upper end is fitted directly to the bodywork of the vehicle. A kind of plate is generally arranged above the lower attachment point, and the coil spring is supported in it. The shock absorbers are generally guided in a shock absorber tube which is closed at the upper end by shock absorber closure screws. Such shock absorber closure screws have a central hole for the shock absorber piston rod to pass through. The shock absorber closure screws furthermore generally have engagement holes or engagement slots or engagement edges which act as points of application for unscrewing the shock absorber closure screws for demounting the shock absorber.
To release such shock absorber closure screws, tools are already known which have pins corresponding to the holes. These tools, however, have the disadvantage that they need a large lever arm to release the shock absorber screws, which are often corroded and dirty. In most cases, it is thus necessary to dismantle the whole suspension in order to demount a shock absorber. Besides the high cost in time and material, it is often necessary, when dismantling in this way, to measure and reset the front axle.
For dismantling, the coil spring surrounding the shock absorber of a suspension is compressed by means of a tool, the compressed coil spring is removed from the shock absorber, the upper shock absorber screw joint is opened by means of the tool, and the shock absorber is changed. The mounting process then essentially proceeds in the reverse order.
For compressing the spring, tools are in use which have two mutually separated spring clamps which are essentially set on the coil spring on opposite sides in order then, by means of the screw element located on the threaded spindle, to move together the two spring engagement elements which are designed, for example, as a kind of hooks directed towards each other, and thus to compress the spring between the engagement elements. Relatively large forces are necessary for this purpose.
Depending on the pitch of the individual turns of the coil spring, the tendency exists for the spring clamps to slip peripherally on the turns of the coil spring, so that they both come to lie on one side of the spring, so that the danger exits that the spring is released on the opposite side and jumps out of engagement with the tool, releasing the considerable deformation energy stored in the spring. This is a serious source of accidents to assembly personnel and can lead to extensive injuries.